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The intimate and relaxed setting of November Heaven

On 8 November, Ikebukuro Chop was dedicated to November Heaven, a musical listening session with four performances by musicians from the Visual Kei world. November Heaven is part of the celebration of the 16th anniversary of the location in Tokyo, which is mainly the place for cosy performances by musicians from various scenes, from goth rock to punk to metal.

The listening session attracted mainly female audiences. The hall is completely adjusted to this listening session with the placing of seats on the black and white checkered floor, where the audience usually stands and goes all out. The audience sits with an appropriate distance from each other on small rickety chairs that were not as rickety as they made you think. This ensured an intimate and relaxed setting in an unnecessarily cooled environment by the air conditioning that was on full throttle.

19.00. While the other musicians were strumming in the backstage, the first musicians played three songs alternated with a chat with each other. The Glowaglowa (グロワグロワ) acoustic unit consists of Kaname. and Lotto from the Visual Kei band Sioux, where one plays the acoustic guitar and the other drums on the cajón, a box-shaped percussion instrument. It was the first time that they participated in an acoustic evening, although a month later a performance in this setting was planned for them.

19.45. On stage stands a dark-clothed musician with guitar, it is Sou (想) of the gothic rock band emmurée. As always the musician performs on his bare feet, his feet can even be seen on the cover of the latest album by emmurée, lightless., which came out in the Summer of 2018. When he performs with his band, he only sings, during this acoustic session he has the guitar in his hands and he plays familiar tracks of the Visual Kei band in an acoustic setting. Because Sou is standing still, he can focus extra well on the beautiful sustained notes that fits to the songs. An emmurée fan recognises them all too well, but in this acoustic session his voice is better because of the focus. Meanwhile, the Ikebukuro Chop air-conditioning is regularly audible during the six songs that Sou plays. The musician might have been prepared on this, given the scarf around his neck.

20.30. DaISUKE DARK SIDE is active as the singer of THE SOUND BEE HD and has also had its own project for a while. During his performance, he introduces the new song The Warrior Rest, but he also chose to play the song ENDLESS RAIN by X JAPAN. Unfortunately a grand piano could not be brought in and as a result, a recording was set up, which is a shame, making his performance the turning point to a non-acoustic show. But as far as decoration is concerned, DaISUKE DARK SIDE did its best to live up to its name: candlesticks with burning candles, a tripod accessorised with a skeleton and another candlestick, all with the dark style of the musician. It all started moderately, but it was only later that DaISUKE DARK SIDE became more convincing because he let the power in his voice be heard. In total he performed 8 songs, some in English, where he ended with a grand finale.

21.15. The real grand finale was planned for the musician Yuki Amano (天野攸紀), better known as bandsman of bands like deadman, the studs, DIMMDIVISION, and StrangerSaid. The musician was dressed with a beret and blue glasses, sits relaxed with guitar in his hands that is connected to an amplifier with a slight distortion. The stage is further filled with a table and two candles. Once Yuki Amano starts playing, sometimes strumming, the room directly gets filled with music. It immediately gives the impression that he is not alone. In principle, the amplifier was not so necessary, given that the hall was not that big, although it was not very disturbing. The warm singing voice provides a pleasant addition to the songs.

Started with AVO in 2003. Now active as writer, reporter, reviewer, promotor, photographer and tries to rule the world with a forum. Can be found regurarly at conventions and concerts in the Netherlands and sometimes Belgium. Big passion for Japan and music.

Online magazine since 2012. AVO Magazine is a Japan-related entertainment website with information about events in especially The Netherlands, Belgium and the rest of Europe. There is a big focus on Japanese music. Other contents we publish are reports, reviews, informative articles, and interviews. AVO Magazine is part of AVO Community.

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